MYSTERY WOMEN
SHORT STORY COMPETITION

Congratulations to Helga Crick , winner of the Mystery Women
short story competition.

Mystery Woman
A short story by Helga Crick

 “Remember Esther, this is just between you and me.” Dorothy leaned forward towards her friend and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “She says it’s like magic.”
Esther felt a frisson of excitement tremble through her body in the warm kitchen as she watched Dorothy cradling a glass bottle filled with golden liquid gently in her hands. Dorothy had dropped hints all week, stopping in midsentence with a guilty laugh, a shake of her head and a refusal to be drawn. Now finally, she was going to share her secret with Esther and Esther could barely contain herself.
Dorothy, aware of the effects her confidence was having on Esther, continued “She says it’s taken years off her. I’ve only been using it for a few days now but I can already feel the benefits.”
She let one hand stray upwards to stroke her cheek while the other continued to hold the bottle and laughed girlishly.  “Of course, I have got very good skin anyway, and that does help.”
Esther peered closely at her friend’s powdered and rouged face, her pale blue eyes widening in appreciation.
“It certainly looks very soft. And that’s just from using the oil?”
Dorothy frowned, almost regretting her decision to let Esther in on the secret. “Not just. I do have good skin, remember.”
“Oh yes. I know.” Esther hastened to soothe her friend and restore her good mood.  “That’s what I meant.” She waited a moment before asking, “I don’t suppose I could try a drop. Could I?”
Dorothy looked unconvincingly sympathetic.
“I’m afraid not Esther. It is very costly and she only meant it for her very special friends.”
Seeing Esther’s tired face with its overly familiar lines and shadows, Dorothy felt slightly guilty and hastily continued talking. “She says it’s made with the latest ingredients. Some sort of protein complex or something like that.” She smiled indulgently at Esther. “Well, you know normally I wouldn’t believe any of that nonsense but she looked so much better, I simply had to try it. And of course, it is only for her very close friends.”
Dorothy unscrewed the bottle and a sweet smell rose from the liquid. She let a drop of oil slide onto her finger tip.

Police investigating the disappearance of two homeless men believe that as many as 15 may have disappeared since 2007.

Esther, arriving at Dorothy’s house for her weekly coffee and gossip, was prepared for some change in her friend’s appearance but not for the extent of the transformation.
“Dorothy,” Esther gasped, “my goodness!” The facial lines had vanished, the lips were plump and pink, and the cheeks bloomed. Dorothy’s skin was glowing. It was soft and supple with no trace of her normally thickly applied of powder or paint. Swathes of glossy chestnut colour shone in her newly styled hair. Dorothy looked better and healthier than Esther had ever seen her. In fact, she looked years younger. A faint, sweet perfume hung about her. Dorothy smiled brightly, displaying a row of now even, white teeth.
“Isn’t it wonderful? And she says this is only the start. Soon all those tiresome aches and pains (not that I have any) will go too.” Dorothy stretched out a hand of creamy soft skin towards Esther. “Just look at my hands.”  
Esther looked and saw that the liver spots had disappeared. She felt Dorothy’s hand, sandwiching it between her own two rougher and spotted ones.
“It really is magic.” Esther breathed, adding quickly, “not that you needed very much.”
Dorothy patted Esther’s arm – it gave them both an opportunity to admire again the effects of the oil – and led her inside.
“I’ll let you into a secret, Esther,” said Dorothy pouring coffee into bone china cups. “I’ve been using the oil for cooking too. As I see it, if it can do so much for the outsides, just imagine what it could do for the insides. I put a splash of it in everything; cakes, casseroles, gravy, even coffee.”
Dorothy set the cups down. A film of golden oil floated on the surface of the coffee.

The bodies of four men were discovered in the early hours of Sunday morning. Each had been bludgeoned to death.

A full bottle of fresh oil stood on the dining table. Esther gazed in speechless awe at it. She had felt positively rejuvenated after the previous week’s visit and the cause could only have been the three cups of coffee (and oil) that she had drunk. She wondered if she could ask again for a drop or whether three cups of oily coffee per week would be sufficient for the magic to work. Dorothy smiled at her magnanimously.
“I’m going to let you have a little of this new bottle. I can’t give you any more I’m afraid because it’s so precious but I really don’t think she’d mind if you had a little. It is for close friends after all and you are one of my closest friends.”
Dorothy dribbled a small amount of the liquid into a newly cleaned jam jar and held it up to the sun so that it sparkled, sending points of light dancing around the room.  Esther’s hands were shaking so much with anticipation, that she could barely hold the jar. 
“Thank you so much. I really am very grateful,” said Esther pushing a finger into the amber liquid and rubbing it against her face. A sweet smell rose from her fingers but there was something else too. Something vaguely familiar. Something waxy. Yes, that was it. The smell reminded Esther of candles.

The bodies were then dismembered and the fat extracted from the torsos using heat generated by candles. The liquid fat was then poured into glass bottles for use in cosmetics. A spokesperson from the cosmetics industry confirmed that cosmetic products containing human fat have long been believed to have extraordinary rejuvenating powers.
Police are seeking a mystery woman seen with one of the murdered men shortly before he disappeared